Documentation & Books

[Mark Smith]

I, too, have used  HyperTalk extensively for many years, in many 
projects, though I am not a professional or trained programmer, by any 
means. I also have had my difficulties with the Rev docs, for all the 
reasons others have put forward here. However, I finally stumped up for 
the printed docs, and started simply browsing through them, pretty much 
at random. It's been a revelation! I've discovered all sorts of things 
I didn't know I could do, and all sorts of better ways of doing things 
I knew I could do. As a result, I've begun to be able to make better 
use of the online docs when actually working, since I have a much 
better idea of where to look, because I have a better idea of the 
breadth of possibilities in Rev.

I know that the printed docs are the same as the online docs, but the 
ability to simply flick through and see what catches the eye has made 
all the difference for me. Perhaps this has to do with being someone 
who learns best by simply jumping in, screwing things up and then 
gradually working out what I'm doing wrong.

My opinion of the docs now is that they are generally very clear and 
helpful, though not quite up to the standards of the great Winkler and 
Kamins HyperTalk 2.0 language reference, where every keyword, command, 
constant and function was beautifully explained with a complete handler 
demonstrating it's use...though given the far greater scope of Rev., 
this may not be possible, since some things are the  subject of whole 
books themselves...eg, RegEx, XML, TCP/IP etc.

So as someone who has struggled with the docs, I can heartily recommend 
the printed versions, as well as monitoring this list, which regularly 
throws up gems from the kind generosity of it's many contributors, 
including those who simply ask questions.

Cheers,

Mark Smith